Rating: 
Summary: A mesmerizing read
Review: As soon as I started reading this book I could not put it down. It's the best thing I've read in a long time! I can't give it 5 stars because to me the dialogue comes off as kind of stilted and unnatural-sounding--but the dialogue is by no means the most important aspect of the book. It has the kind of propulsive plot that makes you wish you could read faster so you could find out what happens next, and Ayn Rand's descriptive writing is peerless. It really blows my mind to think she only learned English when she was in her twenties. I highly recommend this book to everyone. It is fabulous! I now plan to read everything else Ayn Rand ever wrote.
Rating:
Summary: Read the intro afterwards
Review: WTL is definitely a great piece of fiction; it shows off Rand's unique writing style in a way that her other fiction does not. The people who complain that it's "dreary" are right - it is dreary, but that's the point - Bolshevik Russia was not exactly the sort of place you'd want to make your summer home.But the book, while spending adequate time describing that dreariness, rises above it in its portrayal of Kira. It's true that WTL is probably the most Neitszchean of Rand's books -- but not, I think, in the most commonly supposed way. Kira's soaring greatness of soul reminded me of Zarathustra, and I definitely recommend this volume to anyone interested in an inspiring portayal of human spirit staying true to itself in the face of adversity. One word of warning though: DO NOT READ THE INTRODUCTION until after you've read the book. It contains "spoiler" info about the ending, which I guarantee you will be sorry that you had.
Rating: 
Summary: Midsized
Review: ATLAS SHRUGGED and _The Fountainhead_ are large; _Anthem_, by contrast, is small. This one is in between -- medium, really. This midsized book is neither large nor small, but somewhere in the middle. I'd call it roughly of average size. If you're looking for a middle-sized book, look no further -- this one is right smack in the center of the measurement range!
Rating: 
Summary: dreary
Review: If you're like me, you devoured Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead. I went into reading We The Living with the same expectations only to find the characters not nearly as intriguing and the plot plodding. The last fifty pages or so were fantastic but this reader is unsure whether it's worth the journey to get there.
Rating:
Summary: Five in comparison to books by other authors, four...
Review: On a scale of one to five, in comparison to other authors, I would rank this book a five. On a scale of one to five in comparison to her other books, I would rank Ayn Rand's We the Living a four point five. The interesting thing about this book is that it ends depressingly. The heroes do not win. One dies after his awakening and the other dies in snow. The villain gets away. "Such is life" you might say...but I disagree. Rand has always been able to (in her other books anyhow) show her view, prove her point, and do so without the over-dramatic-Romeo-and-Juliet-die gunk that we see clotting every other book on the market today. It is not that I dislike sad endings, or think that the world is a wonderful place where all live happily ever after. It is just that this one could have been ended differently; to end it this way seemed a bit cliche. I love the author. I just do not love this book as much as I do say, Atlas Shrugged. This book is very simple, very direct, very clean, clear, and concise. I loved it for those reasons. I also enjoyed it very much because it showed how people could be blinded by feelings. Unlike the clear, calculating Dagny Taggart, Kira is very gullible, very human. Kira is full of hope. She has the same inner qualities as that which makes all of Ayn Rand's heros and heroins great, but she lacks the sight that Dagny, Roark, Domonique, John, etc. have. So in that way, this book is a very interesting change. I think for most people from about 16+ should try Ayn Rand's books in the following order: The Fountainhead, Anthem, Atlas Shrugged, We the Living, January. The reason for this is that Anthem does not have as rich of details as The Fountainhead. It is not as loaded, I suppose. If you start with The Fountainhead, you will need a break, probably, between that and Atlas Shrugged. That break would be Anthem, because it is lighter reading. I place We the Living after Atlas Shrugged because it too, is simpler...but now that you have seen Domonique, Roark, Prometheus, and Dagny, you will better appreciate the contrast between them and Kira. It will also serve as a break. January I put last because you can follow it up by renting the movie for it too, and because the ending's spiffy. Of all the authors out there, Ayn Rand is one of but three or four I highly recommend. Atlas Shrugged is like a Bible to me.
Rating:
Summary: The First and most lyrical work by a Wonderful Writer!
Review: Ms. Rand states in the foreward of her debut novel, We the Living, that it's the closest thing to an autobiography she's ever written, and it also marked her beginning as a novelist in the Romantic Realist school using a new language(English), since she left the Soviet Union. Anyone who claims that Rand is not really a novelist should read this book. The character development is without a doubt the most professional and urbane of any of her works, and the imagery she uses to immerse the reader into the dark, cruel, and depressing soul of Petrograd in the early to mid 1920's is downright impressive. It's obvious that she used a tremendous of time and effort to translate her thoughts onto the page while still trying to master the English language. Perhaps this is why the book is so well crafted and never varies in its painstaking realism from start to finish. There are no long speeches or oratories in this wonderful work, it is a rather plodding, brooding, and sensual piece of continual development from start to finish. Only a self-made author as Ms. Rand calls herself, and I might add one who is very gifted and able, could have written such a great piece of historical literature, which is still a very relavant and vibrant read to this day. Yes, it provokes thought as any work of her's does, however, she does not hammer the reader over the head with her beliefs, but rather lets it meld into the storyline. I would love to hear somebody say that Ms. Rand cannot write well and isn't a real novelist after reading this marvelous and steady piece of prose, for I would say that it's far better than anything done by Pasternak or many of the other modern Russian novelists of "acclaim," and of course it's of much more value. Only a fool would doubt that Rand's work does not reveal a person of pure genius and unadulterated greatness. After reading We the Living, only a very stupid fool, can honestly say that she's not a skilled novelist or very talented writer. Another triumph for this unique and precious literary visionary. We probably won't see one like her ever again, but I'm hoping that we don't quit trying to surpass her acheivements. I know she wouldn't want us to! Live and think brothers and sisters. Ignorance is not bliss, it's only a shallow disguise for those who are afraid to really try. This is a work of art by a person who was in progress. Even her most ardent critics would have to agree that this work has substantial merit as a living historical document alone. The Soviet Union, and other totalitarian states, never had or will have a chance to live (sic) for very long.
Rating:
Summary: The best Rand book
Review: We the Living is a great book and by far Ayn Rand's best. She wrote it before the Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and before she started seeing evil everywhere. The book works because of its context which is Soviet Russia and Rand shows convincingly how communism is destructive of anything valuable. It is not as well crafted as later novels but at least in this case, she's on solid ground and not trying to be a know-it-all.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to par; forward spoils the plot
Review: First, above all else, do not read Leonard Peikoff's introduction. It spoils every major event in the plot before you've read the first chapter. I have never in my life read a forward that did this... the publisher on this book really needs to track down this Peikoff guy and slap him around. You just do NOT do that in a forward! As to the book itself, I was not impressed. I liked Ayn Rand's two major novels. I'm a very impatient guy, and Rand's two major novels are probably the only ones I've ever been able to read, especially of that length, without skipping pages. She is very good at keeping the plot going, and keeping it interesting, now matter how big things get. And of course, Rand is very philosophical, and is always making points that, whether you like them are not, are at least food for thought. Reading her two major novels is far from boring. I've said all that, because chances are anyone interested in this book has read Rand's major works already, and knows where I'm coming from. I found this book very disappointing. And I was prepared for some disappointment anyway; I knew this novel was going to be shorter, simpler, and not as polished. I didn't know it would be so darned... plain. I just can't think of anything special, or interesting, or moving in it at all. It's just another tacky love story, with the misery of Soviet Russia as a backdrop. More culture shock than anything else, like a bad fantasy novel... and even not that much of that.
Rating:
Summary: A Harsh Look at Communist Russia
Review: That so many people find this their favorite of Ayn Rand's work is not surprising; of all of her novels, this is the most straightforward. The narrative carries the story forward, rather than the philosophy, and a great narrative it is. Rand manages to encompass almost all of the dreariness and paranoia of Stalinist Russia by following the lives of three young people involved in a love triangle of sorts. We the Living explains why Rand took such "harsh" stances in favor of capitalism - she lived the alternative, and found it repugnant in the extreme. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Ayn Rand's best
Review: You don't have to buy into the Objectivist philosophy to enjoy this novel. I certainly don't. But I marval at Rand the dramatist. The woman knew how to write good books. However, if you identify yourself as a socialist/collectivist/liberal democrat, you probably will find much here at which to take offense.
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